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Personally and maybe somewhat selfishly, my personal 'beginning of the end' was in 1991 when both Hackney and Wimbledon closed leaving no team left inside the M25.

I blamed Poole at the time! (Really ... the great Melvyn Stewkesbury plan which took 4 top teams out of the National League and left the rest of them to fend for themselves)

Since then, it seems to have been never-ending small steps towards oblivion (1 big league not working, the rise of the GP, the rise of the overseas leagues in importance compared to ours etc, speed over trackcraft etc)

Speedway reminds me of a fish out of water - flapping and contorting its body in a desperate attempt to find credibility. Its fan-base is shrinking and it seems to have major problems recruiting younger fans (i cannot get my son to move from his bedroom to watch it on TV so what chance of getting him from Bristol to either Swindon or Highbridge)

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Personally and maybe somewhat selfishly, my personal 'beginning of the end' was in 1991 when both Hackney and Wimbledon closed leaving no team left inside the M25.

I blamed Poole at the time! (Really ... the great Melvyn Stewkesbury plan which took 4 top teams out of the National League and left the rest of them to fend for themselves)

Since then, it seems to have been never-ending small steps towards oblivion (1 big league not working, the rise of the GP, the rise of the overseas leagues in importance compared to ours etc, speed over trackcraft etc)

Speedway reminds me of a fish out of water - flapping and contorting its body in a desperate attempt to find credibility. Its fan-base is shrinking and it seems to have major problems recruiting younger fans (i cannot get my son to move from his bedroom to watch it on TV so what chance of getting him from Bristol to either Swindon or Highbridge)

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Yes that's him! If I spelled his name wrongly it's because I haven't seen his name in print for at least 25 years (jeez time flies)

After Hackney packed up, I didn't bother going to Arena as i'd got into a relationship with a lady who had no interest in bikes and i only really became interested again as an armchair fan again a few years ago - whatever happened to him anyway?